Siquis Deus mihi largiatur, ut ex hac ætate repuerafcam, et in cunis vagiam, vaide recufem.

CIC. DE SENECT.

The bewailing of man's miseries hath been elegantly and copioufly fet forth by many, in the writings as well of philofophers as divines, and it is both a pleafant and a profitable contemplation.

LORD BACON'S ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING.

Solomon, feeking happinefs from knowledge, convenes the learned men of his kingdom; requires them to explain to him the various operations and effects of Nature; difcourfes of vegetables, animals, and man; propofes fome questions concerning the origin and fituation of the habitable earth; proceeds to examine the fyftem of the vifible heaven; doubts if there may not be a plurality of worlds; inquires into the nature of fpirits and angels; and wishes to be more fully informed as to the attributes of the Supreme Being. He is imperfectly answered by the Rabbins and Doctors; blames his own curiofity; and concludes that, as to human fcience, ALL IS VANITY.

E fons of men, with juft regard attend;

Obferve the Preacher, and believe the friend:
Whofe ferious Mufe infpires him to explain,
That all we act, and all we think, is vain!
That, in this pilgrimage of feventy years,
O'er rocks of perils, and thro' vales of-tears,
Defin'd to march, our doubtful steps we tend,
Tir'd with the toil, yet fearful of it's end:

That

That from the womb we take our fatal shares
Of follies, paffions, labours, tumults, cares;
And at approach of death fhall only know

The truths which from these penfive numbers flow,
That we pursue falfe joy, and fuffer real woe.
Happiness! object of that waking dream
Which we call life, mistaking; fugitive theme
Of my pursuing verfe; ideal fhade;
Notional good; by fancy only made,
And by tradition nurs'd; fallacious fire,
Whofe dancing beams mislead our fond defire;
Caufe of our care, and error of our mind;
Oh! hadft thou ever been by Heav'n defign'd
To Adam, and his mortal race, the boon
Entire had been referv'd for Solomon;
On me the partial lot had been bestow'd,
And in my cup the golden draught had flow'd.
But, O! ere yet orig'nal man was made,
Ere the foundations of this earth were laid,
It was, opponent to our fearch, ordain'd
That joy, ftill fought, fhould never be attain'd:
This fad experience ĉites me to reveal;
And what I dictate is from what I feel.

Born, as I was, great David's fav'rite fon,
Dear to my people on the Hebrew throne;
Sublime my court, with Ophir's treasures blefs'd,
My name extended to the fartheft east;
My body cloth'd with ev'ry outward grace,
Strength in my limbs, and beauty in my face;
My fhining thought with fruitful notions crown'd,
Quick my invention, and my judgment found-

'Arife,' I commun'd with myself, arife!

<

Think, to be happy; to be great, be wife:

Content of spirit must from science flow,
For 'tis a godlike attribute-to know.'

H 2

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I faid,

I faid, and fent my edict thro' the land:
Around my throne the letter'd Rabbins stand;
Hiftorick leaves revolve, long volumes fpread,
The old difcourfing as the younger read ;
Attent I heard, propos'd my doubts, and said—

The vegetable world, each plant and tree,
It's feed, it's name, it's nature, it's degree,
I am allow'd, as Fame reports, to know;
From the fair cedar on the craggy brow
• Of Lebanon nodding fupremely tall,
To creeping mofs, and hyffop on the wall:
Yet, juft and confcious to myself, I find
A thousand doubts oppofe the fearching mind.

I know not why the beech delights the glade, < With boughs extended and a rounder fhade;

Whilft tow'ring firs in conick forms arise,
And with a pointed spear divide the skies:
Nor why, again, the changing oak fhould fhed
The yearly honour of his ftately head;

• Whilft the distinguish'd yew is ever seen,
Unchang'd his branch, and permament his green.
Wanting the fun why does the caltha fade?
Why does the cyprefs flourish in the shade?
The fig and date, why love they to remain
In middle station, and an even plain;
While in the lower marfh the gourd is found,
And while the hill with olive-fhade is crown'd?
Why does one climate and one foil endue
The blushing poppy with a crimson hue,

Yet leave the lily pale, and tinge the violet blue?

Why does the fond carnation love to shoot

A various colour from one parent root;

While the fantastick tulip ftrives to break
In two-fold beauty and a parted streak ?

The twining jafmine, and the blushing rofe,
• With lavish grace their morning scents difclofe;

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• The

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The fmelling tub'rofe and jonquil declare,

The ftronger impulfe of an evening air.

• Whence has the tree (resolve me) or the flow'r,

• A various instinct or a diff'rent pow'r?

Why fhould one earth, one clime, one ftream, one breath, • Raise this to strength, and ficken that to death?

• Whence does it happen, that the plant which well

• We name the fenfitive, should move and feel?

• Whence know her leaves to answer her command, • And with quick horror fly the neighb'ring hand? Along the funny bank or wat'ry mead,

• Ten thousand stalks their various bloffoms spread; • Peaceful and lowly, in their native soil,

• They neither know to spin, nor care to toil: • Yet with confefs'd magnificence deride

Our vile attire, and impotence of pride. • The cowflip smiles in brighter yellow drefs'd, ⚫ Than that which veils the nubile virgin's breast; • A fairer red ftands blushing in the rose,

Than that which on the bridegroom's vestment flows.
Take but the humbleft lily of the field;

And, if our pride will to our reason yield,

It muft, by fure comparifon, be shown,

That, on the regal feat, great David's fon,

Array'd in all his robes and types of pow'r,

Shines with lefs glory than that fimple flow'r.
Of fishes next, my friends, I would inquire:
How the mute race engender, or respire;
• From the fmall fry that glide on Jordan's ftream
Unmark'd, a multitude without a name;
To that Leviathan, who o'er the feas
Immenfe rolls onward his impetuous ways,
And mocks the wind, and in the tempet plays?
How they in warlike bands march greatly forth,
From freezing waters and the colder north,

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• To

To fouthern climes directing their career,
Their ftation changing with th' inverted year?
How all with careful knowledge are endu'd,
To chufe their proper bed, and wave, and food;
To guard their spawn, and educate their brood?
Of birds, how each, according to her kind,
Proper materials for her neft can find,

And build a frame which deepeft thought in man • Would or amend, or imitate, in vain ?

How in fmall flights they know to try their young,
And teach the callow child her parent's fong?

Why thefe frequent the plain, and those the wood?
Why ev'ry land has her fpecifick brood?

Where the tall crane or winding fwallow goes,
Fearful of gathering winds, and falling fnows:

• If into rocks or hollow trees they creep,

In temporary death confin'd to fleep;

Or, conscious of the coming evil, fly

To milder regions, and a fouthern fky?

• Of beafts and creeping infects shall we trace
The wondrous nature and the various race;
Or wild or tame, or friend to man or foe,

Of us what they, or what of them we know ?
Tell me, ye ftudious! who pretend to fee

Far into Nature's bofom, whence the bee
Was firft inform'd her vent'rous flight to steer
Thro' tractlefs paths, and an abyfs of air?
Whence fhe avoids the flimy marfh, and knows
The fertile hills, where fweeter herbage grows,

And honey-making flow'rs their op'ning buds disclose?
How, from the thicken'd mift and fetting fun,
Finds fhe the labour of her day is done?
Who taught her against winds and rains to strive,

To bring her burden to the certain hive;
And thro' the liquid fields again to pass,
Duteous, and hark'ning to the founding brafs?

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